A curtain wall, which is generally associated with a multi-story building, is a non-structural, outer covering generally made of lightweight materials that is attached from the outside of a building and transfers lateral wind loads to a main building structure. A curtain wall is designed to span multiple floors, and its frame is typically infilled with a plurality of glass panels to provide a building exterior with an appearance of continuous panels from the top to bottom.
Curtain walls generally suffer from water infiltration, particularly wind driven rain as a result of the high wind speeds prevalent at upper floors, due to the curtain wall structure and the presence of inwardly openable windows. Many buildings deteriorate unacceptably as a result of the water infiltration.
It is an object of the present invention to provide drain opening apparatus to prevent water infiltration through vertically spaced panels of a curtain wall with an inwardly openable window, embedded in the curtain wall.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide curtain wall drain opening apparatus that does not comprise the structural integrity and appearance of the infilled glass panels.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.